Morning Bits

Oh, puleez.On “Kim Jong Il, Faminist”: “Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, found him ‘smart’ and ‘well-informed’ though perhaps somewhat ‘cruel’; he gave Ms. Albright’s counselor, Wendy Sherman, a little tingle. . .George Bush’s hapless representative to the never-ending, always-failing Six-PartyTalks to de-nuke the Norks, Christopher ‘Patient But Firm’ Hill. . .sensed ‘a commitment to trying to move this process’ along; and Barack Obama’s own Six-Party man, Stephen Bosworth, undaunted by a little missile music, promised he’d be ‘working very closely with our partners to ensure that after the dust from the missiles has settled a bit . . we get back to the longer term priority’ of engagement.”

Oh, puleez. Condi Rice for VP? If we want someone who opposed the surge in Iraq and pushed for engagement with Iran and North Korea, we can vote for President Obama.

Oh, puleez. They expect us to believe Newt Gingrich would behave unethically!? “A Washington watchdog requested a Federal Election Commission investigation Monday into Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s campaign contributions. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) believes Gingrich Productions may have made illegal donations to Gingrich’s campaign, according to a CREW press release.” Yes, CREW is leftwing, but no one is better at giving the left ammunition than Gingrich.

Oh, puleez. Do she and her husband actually imagine she is an asset? “Callista dings Mitt on Twitter.”

Oh, puleez. “[T]he Justice Department willing[ly] gives thousands of guns to Mexican criminal gangs; this results in the deaths of two U.S. law enforcement agents (one of whom, Jaime Zapata, was Hispanic) and dozens of Mexican nationals; the Justice Department stonewalls and misleads in the ensuing investigations; and now Eric Holder claims that criticism of his conduct is fueled by racism?”

Oh, puleez. “A ruling in favor of health-care reform could hurt Obama. Decisions on immigration and redistricting could help the GOP. “ Didn’t the left tell us Obamacare was popular and Arizona’s immigration law was not? Now, only the demise of the former and the success of the latter can save Obama.

Oh, puleez. Gingrich claims he’s consistent on pro-life issues. Marc Thiessen blows him out: “For all the conservative angst over the genuineness of Romney’s conversion on life, at least he changed his position on embryonic stem cell research six years ago — not two weeks ago as Gingrich did. When the issue was before him and his decision mattered, Romney made the right choice. Gingrich, by contrast, publicly urged Bush to make the wrong choice. Not only has Romney promised to overturn Obama’s stem cell policy, he has a robust pro-life agenda planned for his administration. A top Romney adviser told me that, as president, Romney would support a raft of pro-life legislation — from pain capable unborn child protection legislation (like that recently passed in Nebraska) to the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. Considering Gingrich’s troubling statements and legislative history, Romney can credibly argue that in a race with Gingrich, he is the more pro-life candidate.”

Oh, puleez. You’d think Congress would check these things out before voting. “Payroll processors are watching Congress with frustration as a Dec. 31 deadline for extending a payroll tax cut nears, and are warning companies about the difficulty of implementing a temporary provision passed by the Senate.”

Oh, puleez, says Ed Whelan, about Gingrich’s scheme on judges. “If a President Gingrich did actually try to unseat all the Ninth Circuit judges, a political firestorm would erupt, and many of the folks who would be Gingrich’s natural allies in the war against bad judging would see no choice but to oppose his scheme. I think that the prospect that the Gingrich plan would be successfully adopted is zero, but consider how terrible it would be if Gingrich did succeed: The precedent he established would equally apply to Supreme Court justices, so the left could unseat, say, Chief Justice Roberts or Justice Thomas the next time Democrats controlled the White House and Congress. One need not share the inflated understanding that many folks have of the concept of judicial independence to recognize that the Gingrich plan is not consistent with our federal constitutional system of separated powers.” Indeed.

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